Six NSWIS hockey players named in Kookaburra’s team for upcoming tours

Six NSWIS hockey players have been named in the Australian men’s team, The Kookaburra’s for the upcoming trans-Tasman series in Auckland, New Zealand and International Festival of Hockey in Melbourne, Victoria.

A team of 18 will travel to Auckland for the trans-Tasman series, while 25 players will travel to Melbourne to compete against India, Malaysia and New Zealand in a four nations tournament. A test series against India in Bendigo will follow.

Last week the Australian women’s hockey team, the Hockeyroos, where named for the same two events.

Among the NSWIS contingent named was Rio Olympian Matthew Dawson from Killarney Valley in NSW, who just last year was a star of the Kookaburras gold medal performance at the World League Final. Considered one of the up-and-comers of the team, Dawson put in a drag-flick to secure the result against Belgium and impress for his first Olympic berth.

Joining Dawson in both the trans-Tasman team and International Festival of Hockey Team will be Lane Cove’s Ben Craig, who will be making his debut alongside three other players.

Also selected in both sides were Wollongong’s Flynn Ogilvie and Victoria Park’s Matthew Willis.

Of the six NSWIS players to receive the call up in the International Festival of Hockey team, three are from Wollongong. They include Ogilvie, 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Kieran Govers as well as Tristan White, who is making a return after he was ruled out of the Rio Olympics with a posterior cruciate ligament injury.

It isn’t just White who is on the comeback from injury, so too is Govers who had been sidelined with a spate of hip and hamstring injuries prior to the Olympics, which ultimately led to his omission from the Rio squad.

Kookaburra’s head coach Paul Gaudoin said he made of point of selecting up-and-comers as well as players who hadn’t had the opportunity to impress in recent times for the impending tournaments.

“There is a clear focus on moving forward to the next four-year cycle as we look to develop a squad for Tokyo 2020,” Gaudoin said.

“With many of our current athletes overseas or having time away from the high performance environment, this is the perfect and much needed time to look wider afield.

“After a big year, we see these series as a chance to discover and expose some athletes who may not have had the opportunity in recent times as we look to increase the depth of our talent pool.

“We believe we have selected an exciting and highly capable athlete group, who will give us every chance of success across both series.”

The trans-Tasman series will take place from November 17-20, while the International Festival of Hockey kicks off in Melbourne from November 23-30.

Trans-Tasman Team

Chris Bausor (Perth, WA)
Daniel Beale (Brisbane, QLD)
Scott Boyde (Brisbane, QLD)
Tristan Clemons (Ferndale, WA)
Ben Craig (Lane Cove, NSW)
Tim Cross (South Morang, VIC)
Matthew Dawson (Killarney Valley, NSW)
Jeremy Edwards (Howrah, TAS)
Jeremy Hayward (Darwin, NT)
Aaron Kleinschmidt (Melbourne, VIC)
Tyler Lovell (Perth, WA)
Kurt Mackey (Hobart, TAS)
Trent Mitton (Perth, WA)
Flynn Ogilvie (Wollongong, NSW)
Jacob Whetton (Brisbane, QLD)
Matthew Willis (Victoria Park, NSW)
Dylan Wotherspoon (Murwillumbah, QLD)
Aran Zalewski (Margaret River, WA)

International Festival of Hockey team

Chris Bausor (Perth, WA)
Daniel Beale (Brisbane, QLD)
Robert Bell (Brisbane, QLD)
Scott Boyde (Brisbane, QLD)
Andrew Charter (Canberra, ACT)
Tristan Clemons (Ferndale, WA)
Ben Craig (Lane Cove, NSW)
Tim Cross (South Morang, VIC)
Matthew Dawson (Killarney Valley, NSW)
Jeremy Edwards (Howrah, TAS)
Kieran Govers (Wollongong, NSW)
Casey Hammond (Bundoora, VIC)
Jeremy Hayward (Darwin, NT)
Aaron Kleinschmit (Melbourne, VIC)
Tyler Lovell (Perth, WA)
Kurt Mackey (Hobart, TAS)
Trent Mitton (Perth, WA)
Flynn Ogilvie (Wollongong, NSW)
Josh Pollard (Melbourne, VIC)
Jacob Whetton (Brisbane, QLD)
Tristan White (Wollongong, NSW)
Tom Wickham (Morgan, SA)
Matthew Willis (Victoria Park, NSW)
Dylan Wotherspoon (Murwillumbah, QLD)
Aran Zalewski (Margaret River, WA)